Rabin's widow tells Israelis: Vote for Peres

May 29, 1996 Web posted at: 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Leah Rabin, the widow of former Israeli
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, urged voters to elect Prime Minister and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres so her husband's death would not be "in vain."

"If the Labor Party doesn't win today, then his loss was in
vain and then his loss would be a triumph for his murderer
and those who sent him," she said in an interview with CNN's
Christiane Amanpour.

Rabin added that assassin Yigal Amir, 26, was not acting
alone in the murder, that he was "incited" by many people
within Israel. (221K AIFF or WAV sound)

She then lashed out at the Israeli government for allowing
Amir to vote Wednesday. (238K AIFF or WAV sound)

In Israel, convicted felons retain their right to vote. Earlier this month, Israel's Supreme Court rejected an appeal to strip Amir of his citizenship and thus his voting rights.